Tag: Michigan State Spartans

Like Hank Scorpio on a video chat with the UN, this college football Saturday stands before the Playoff in possession of the Doomsday Device. Last weekend featured an incredible seven matchups between Top 25 teams. The Saturday Six-Pack is once again stocked entirely with showdowns between ranked opponents. Last time, such a slate all but…

November is to football as March is to basketball. With conference championship chases in full bloom, and the College Football Playoff landscape beginning to take shape, games this time of year resemble the Madness of the hardwood come spring. Consider the Novembers of the 2010s: 2010 Down 24-0 in the second quarter, Cam Newton wills…

So, it seems this college football season is heeding the words of former Miami Hurricanes tight end: C'mon, fellas, let's get weird. G-Reg's alma mater warrants a kickoff mention in this week's Four Downs. Miami snapped its seven-game losing streak to rival Florida State in dramatic fashion. The U's come-from-behind victory over the 'Noles provided…

Allow me to preface the first Saturday Six-Pack of October with this inscrutable fact: October owns. I spent this past Sunday as I do every Oct. 1, setting up Halloween decorations around the homestead. It's tradition in my household to add something to the collection every year, and for the first time, my son picked.…

WWE has a main-event angle and with a top-flight talent in its ranks, just waiting for the opportunity to shine at the top of the card. Say hello to Titus O'Neil and his titular stable, Titus Worldwide. The Titus Brand is indeed going worldwide through pro and college sports. At the most recent episode of…

Today marks 100 days until the tipoff of the 2017-18 college basketball season. If you have made it this far, you deserve a can of Coke and hearty pat on the back, as the offseason is more than halfway complete. To commemorate this milestone in the arduous march back to basketball, The Open Man offers…

In a series pairing two of college basketball's deepest conferences, it's impossible to not feature at least a few quality matchups. Nevertheless, the games for the 2017 ACC-Big Ten Challenge, announced Thursday, missed some golden opportunities for marquee contests. The ACC-Big Ten Challenge occupies an important date on the college basketball calendar. The season's a…

Save some room Thanksgiving weekend for the inaugural PK80 Phil Knight Invitational, college basketball's newest -- and arguably most loaded -- early-season tournament. The brackets for the debut PK80 were released Wednesday, and the opening rounds on both sides of the bracket feature some of the best matchups of the entire 2017-'18 nonconference slate. 8.…

Week 3 in the 2016 college football season takes us to Munich, Germany, for this installment of the Saturday Six-Pack. Why? Because a loaded smorgasbord on the gridiron here in the States coincides with the first day of the Oktoberfest celebration. More on that in the Six-Pack later. First, we feast on a Week 3…

The 2016 season marks the 10-year anniversary of the last Big Ten Heisman recipient. Ohio State quarterback Troy Smith won the 2006 edition of the award in a landslide, beating out Arkansas running back Darren McFadden 2,540 votes to 878. It stood as the Big Ten's biggest rout of the SEC all the way until…

Quarterback competitions dominate springtime around college football. Though few quarterback competitions are decided until August -- at least publicly -- these are the stories that most intrigue fans and media during these 15-practice allotments. This week's CFB Huddle Q&A fittingly opens with a question on quarterback competitions. Let's get to it -- but first, mandatory…

An AL.com column came across my timeline Thursday morning, positing this question: What happens to the "SEC is weak" narrative if the conference wins the games it's supposed to win this bowl season? https://t.co/T8OvFgJSU1— AL.com sports (@aldotcomSports) December 17, 2015 Bowl season is the last hope for the SEC to salvage its reputation as the…

Conference championship weekend marks the last hurrah of the college football regular season. Cue the music. What a wild, fun ride it's been from the last weekend of August, when Montana and North Dakota State officially kicked off the 2015 season, to this point in December. Coincidentally, Montana plays North Dakota State again in Saturday's…

So, this is it: the one before The One. Tuesday's is the last time the College Football Playoff committee plays pretend with the rankings before issuing the actual final four and bowl pairings. Heading into Championship Week, at least one of the four spots is spoken for. The ACC, Big Ten and SEC Championship Games…

I'll cop to being among those who worried about the College Football Playoff damaging the regular season. Two years into the system, I feel rather foolish. Now, I still have reservations about the slippery expansion slope and will gladly cite the FCS Playoffs growth from 16 to 20 to 24 teams in the last six…